“Yeah, yeah, you can’t control what’s speaking. But can the trees tell us anything useful or are they just going to complain about a bad feeling every time it so much as rains?”

Rose pats her gently on the head. “The trees are the trees.”

Exasperation fills Anna’s face like steam, but a look from Gran puts an end to their bickering. It’s only when they’re quiet that I realize I was actually kind of…enjoying it? Liam and I would go at it all the time, and I wouldn’t talk to him for days after.

I never thought I’d miss arguing with him.

Rose puts the lid on the small clay pot of pink goo. “Apply this twice a day,” she instructs me, setting it on the table behind my head.

“And come to me or Rose to change this bandage daily,” Gran says, flicking her fingers at a roll of white gauze. It zips over to my arm and begins wrapping it up while Rose holds it aloft. Then it tears itself free and returns to Gran’s bag.

“And get some rest tonight,” Gran adds sternly. “No training tomorrow.”

“But Samhain is only two—” I start, but then stop when Gran frowns. “Yes, ma’am,” I say instead. She nods, and she and Rose pack up their things before leaving the room.

Anna drops onto the couch beside me, and the sudden shift in weight makes me roll to the side. I wince as the movement tugs at my arm.

“Sorry,” she says.

“How long was I out?” I ask.

Anna casts a worried look out the window. “It’s almost midnight. The guests have been complaining about not being able to use the library, but Gran didn’t want to move you.”

Nearly half a day. The vision had felt like seconds.

“When you, uh, fainted, did you see anything?” she asks.

I blink hazily at her, remembering the odd voice speaking in a language I shouldn’t have been able to understand.

“You were muttering,” she says. “Aunt Elaine and Uncle Roy didn’t hear, but I did. You said, ‘For the king!’ and then…” She shudders, and I’m not sure I want to know the thing that makes Annabella Ballinkay uncomfortable. “The way you screamed, Colin. It scared me.”

“I don’t really know what I saw,” I reply uncertainly. “It was a battle of some sort. But everyone was dressed so strangely, and they were speaking a different language.”

Anna’s concern deepens. “Wraith toxins can cause hallucinations, but that sounds more like a vision. I couldn’t snap you out of it.”

I swallow hard. The vision feels like a distant memory now, but in the moment, it felt as real as living it.

“Do you have a pen and paper?” I ask.